YOUR EMPATHY PROPHET T - ISSUE 3/ FEBRUARY 2009 CAMPFIREOLOGY 1 YOUR PURPOSE - Imagine sitting around a campfire with your friends. You're singing merrily with a drink in your hand, laughing and joking. Your belly's full and the stars are shining brightly in the sky. Your tent is up and your sleeping bag is laid out in anticipation. Such a situation would not be achieved by accident - a great deal of effort, commitment and planning is needed to achieve the desired outcome. 2 CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION - you need to find a place to have your camp. It needs to be close to lots of wood and easily accessible - but not too close to others. 3 RING FENCE THE AREA - for the fire and clear the surroundings of debris. You need to understand who you are going to invite and how many - order food and drink ( and fireworks) - where are people to sit ( what direction is the wind), choose a night where you are guaranteed good weather, etc. 4 SELECT YOUR KINDLING - ( champions). Put them together for a single purpose. 5 IGNITE THE FIRE - You only need to do this once but choose you time carefully. 6 NURTURE IT - As soon as you see smoke you need to develop the fire ( imagine gently blowing to fan the flames). 7 FEED THE FIRE - With small logs at first. Gradually let the fire grow to the desired size. 8 LET IT MATURE - Once the fire is going well you need to let it find its own heat and settle with only the occasional log added. 9 FULFIL THE PURPOSE - Only now can you start to keep warm, cook, etc. 10 Put the fire out and go to bed wanting to do it again - tell the story of its success - ready to invite others. There are literally hundreds of ways to describe the process of cultural change in a business and many tools designed to support organisations find their way through. However, in my experience ( and those of my colleagues at Harding & Yorke) very few actually make it. One of the primary reasons for this failure is the ability to engage people in a way that is both understandable and gives them a sense of involvement and purpose. To put it another way, unsuccessful culture change programmes are done to people and the more successful ones are done by people. Recently I was describing the process of change to a client and quite by chance I chose a campfire metaphor. This worked so well that I thought I would share it with you. The metaphor has been fully analysed and we believe it to be a very robust way of describing the process of culture change in a simple and engaging way. I call the process ' Campfireology'. If you get any of these steps wrong someone ( either a colleague or - worse still - the Fire Brigade) will come along and put it out - soaking all the wood and surrounding area; making it extremely difficult to rekindle either your or your guests' enthusiasm for a second go. How many well- intentioned programmes have you seen put out? And, how enthused are your people for another initiative? Where are you on the Campfireology scale? Jamie Lywood, Chairman & CEO Harding & Yorke + 44 ( 0) 7850 20 20 30 22THE IDEA ' CAMPFIREOLOGY' 12345678910 Set the purpose Imagine the end Choose a pilot area Choose your location Reduce external influences Ringfence the area Pull together the champions Select your kindling Launch the programme Ignite the fire Be visibly supportive Nurture the fire Roll out the intitiative Feed the fire Ensure its sustainability Let it mature Acknowledge key success criteria Fulfil the purpose Continuous change Dream of next big adventure